Natural affinity

Geoffrey Poole's music is trackedand enjoyed by BASIL RAMSEY

Provided a composer anxious for representative works on a single CD chooses
in consultation with others, the result can be fruitful for both composer
and listeners tempted in the market place by whatever combination of inponderables
come together. Nonetheless, the whole enterprise could be a minefield given
the market factors that mostly ignore promise and crave the latest musical
package with a juicy sales appeal. It is to the smaller companies that we
usually turn for courageous forays beyond the spotlights.

Geoffrey Poole, for the uninitiated, is an English composer of excellence
with a varied list of works demonstrating his ideas and ways of creating
music that is fruitful to the ear, and a professional challenge for performers
of the right calibre [listen -- track 2, 5:40-6:44].
With a record that fulfils such a promise, Poole ought to prosper (at least
musically) and find growing interest from a larger sector of the market.
I like his precision in detail that builds to an identifiable 'sound' as
the record progresses through four works. This is one of Poole's stylistic
traits, but others of no less significance are persistent and mould themselves
into the soundscape.

The strength of this music lies in the cohesion of each work, present
because an artist knows how to balance and blend the elements. As Geoffrey
Poole has a natural affinity with the piano I take it to be his instrument,
as heard on track 1 [listen -- 8:25-9:25].